Northwest Bancshares Inc. boosted its position in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE – Free Report) by 13.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 371,545 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 44,373 shares during the quarter. Northwest Bancshares Inc.’s holdings in Vale were worth $4,986,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sunbelt Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Vale in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc boosted its holdings in Vale by 155.1% in the second quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 1,867 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,135 shares during the last quarter. Psagot Value Holdings Ltd. Israel acquired a new stake in Vale during the 1st quarter worth about $40,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. purchased a new position in shares of Vale during the 1st quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Money Concepts Capital Corp acquired a new position in shares of Vale in the 4th quarter valued at about $53,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 16.90% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
VALE has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wolfe Research raised Vale from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $17.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 11th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Vale from $16.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Friday, July 28th. BNP Paribas cut Vale from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $13.20 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, June 28th. Scotiabank lowered Vale from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $16.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, June 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Vale from $18.00 to $17.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $17.02.
Vale Price Performance
NYSE VALE traded down $0.10 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $12.78. The stock had a trading volume of 7,073,078 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,146,434. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $13.48 and its 200 day moving average is $13.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.35 and a beta of 0.87. Vale S.A. has a twelve month low of $12.22 and a twelve month high of $19.31.
Vale (NYSE:VALE – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The basic materials company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.33). The business had revenue of $9.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.82 billion. Vale had a net margin of 27.29% and a return on equity of 28.86%. Equities research analysts forecast that Vale S.A. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Vale Increases Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 15th were issued a $0.4056 dividend. This is an increase from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 14th. This represents a yield of 5.1%. Vale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.39%.
Vale Profile
Vale SA, together with its subsidiaries, produces and sells iron ore and iron ore pellets for use as raw materials in steelmaking in Brazil and internationally. The company operates through Iron Solutions and Energy Transition Materials segments. The Iron Solutions segment produces and extracts iron ore and pellets, manganese, and other ferrous products; and provides related logistic services.